Letters for May 19, 2008

May 19, 2008 07:30 am

—

Fueling rules ridiculous

Although I realize the needs of local gasoline merchants to protect their precious supplies, (and pocketbooks), what with the rising cost of fuel and all, I was quite irked when I stopped at the West End Hess today to fill up my vehicle. Apparently, one either has to walk into the store and prepay, or use a credit or debit card at the pump before fueling one's vehicle. I ended up having to swipe the card at the pump before I could fuel up.

I was planning to go into the store for further purchases after fueling up, but this policy angered me so that I informed the assistant manager on duty that she has lost a regular customer over it. After all, who wants to have to swipe her card more than once at a place of business? Do merchants really want to pay the additional fees for credit-card users, and if so, are they going to increase their prices over this, too?

What's next? Where does the ridiculousness end? How is the average or lower-wage earner going to survive? By the way, anyone know where one can fill up and make other purchases "all in one swipe"?

Amanda E. Gardner

Burlington Flats

Officers should follow the law

I was wondering what gives state troopers the right to break the law in regard to parking on the wrong side of the road, driving faster than they should when not responding to a call (no flashing lights or sirens), failing to use proper signals etc. ... I have seen such behaviors among our law enforcement people and have always wondered how they got away with such things when you or I would get ticketed.

Could someone from our law enforcement tell me? Or at least let me know what the average citizen can do about it? It seems to me our law enforcement officers ought to be setting the proper examples for the rest of us to follow.

Dixie Sperbeck

Stamford